Sunday, August 14, 2011

Baked Sunday Mornings: Grasshopper Bars

In college, we got our hands on a video titled "Cooking with Cordials." It was an old promotional video from the 1950s put out by Hiram Walker. The video matches my ideas about the 1950s perfectly. The stay-at-home wife prepares the vegetable and fruit dishes with cordials, while the businessman cooks the liquor-glazed roast. The cordial dishes they create are just over top. Imagine peas floating in bright green creme de menthe. Fruit salad stewing for hours in a cordial bath.

Try as I might to find a clip for you, an internet search turned up no results. My apologies. It's horribly entertaining, and I think my description doesn't do it justice.

So this weekend, I cooked with cordials. Hiram Walker creme de menthe, to be exact. A huge bottle of it because that was the smallest size my liquor store had. Any suggestions of what to do with the rest are greatly appreciated.

I made the Grasshopper Bars from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented. The base is a thick fudge-brownie layer. It's topped with a creamy mint layer and a firm layer of chocolate ganache. I omitted the mint extract since I didn't have it, but I was glad. The bars were minty enough as is, and I think the extract would have been too much.

The bars sliced up beautiful. Baked mentions they're equally appropriate for a child's snack after school and for a beautiful plated dessert to finish a dinner party. I found they were perfect with good friends, long conversations and wine.

To view the recipe for these delicious bars and to see all the other bloggers who baked Grasshopper Bars this week, visit Baked Sunday Mornings!

13 comments:

Katie, Your bars look absolutely lovely! I would have loved seeing that clip...sounds so funny! I grew up in the 50's and 60's and my family never cooked with liquor. Creme de menthe is great with Champagne! Great post!

I appreciate all these great creme de menthe suggestions. I never would have guessed it went with champagne? I think I'll have to look up the recipe for that one! And I will definitely have to make more batches of these bars--yum! That will help use up the cordial three tablespoons at a time!

I am dying to see that video and also wondering what else to do with the rest of my bottle of creme de menthe (my husband couldn't find a mini bottle, and would you believe that Washington, D.C. has a law that requires mini bottles to be purchased at least six at a time anyway?!). Glad you (and your friends) enjoyed these bars!